My Anthem

Thursday, May 03, 2012

and I hope it's Okay with the writer that I reproduce it below to spread the message wide and strong!:) ~~ YL, Desi~~~~~~Thursday, 03 May 2012 11:40 posted by truemalaysian

Dear Friends,

I was there, and proudly so in spite of all the lies that the MSM is spewing out to the public.

So far the government's argument is that the Bersih 3.0 people breached the barrier and thus the PDRM responded with tear gas and water canon (and a whole lot of beating).
The 1st question to be asked is: Which barrier was breached? Seems like it was the outer perimeter barrier which is not included in the court order. The PDRM had 'illegally' blocked the roads outside the perimeter of Dataran Merdeka not covered by the court order. And one of this "illegal" barriers was breached. If this is true then did the people break the court order?
The 2nd question: Since only ONE barrier was broken through, why did the police fire tear gas and water canons on all fronts, including the rest of the fronts where the "duduk-bantah" were really peaceful and law abiding? Was firing on all fronts part of a preconceived plan?
The 3rd question: Why did the police suddenly desert that front which the crowds broke through, before the crowds did what they did? Was that action on purpose? Earlier in Brickfields, they had given us the impression that they will allow us through their cordon without retaliation. They had blocked the entire road leading from Brickfields to Central Market. But when we march on and faced off with them, they just opened up the cordon and allowed us through peacefully. We thanked them, and there was happiness that this time the PDRM is different, that they will not hurt their own people; people they are supposed to protect. So when they withdrew from the cordon near Dataran Merdeka were they were purposely "inviting" the crowds (having given that impression earlier) in to give them an excuse to attack?
The 4th question: If there was a breach of one front by some people, wouldn't the police be competent enough to just arrest the few who had broken through, and if necessary to fire tear gas there only? Then they can restore the barrier there. It seems all so deliberate that the PDM was planning to lure the crowd into making this mistake and to give them an excuse.
The 5th questions: If they were not intending to use excessive violence, why were the police name tags all removed? What is there to hide? Why did they trap the crowd instead of dispersing them? Why did they stop the LRT which the people can use to disperse? Why did they block all the dispersal routes that the crowd will use to disperse? Why did they fire into the crowd and from both sides? Was it to create a stampede so that easily hundreds could have been killed by their own fellow Bersih supporters in the ensuring panic, and then blame the deaths on Bersih? (It was so easy under the circumstances for this to have occurred if not for the relative calm, discipline and tolerance of the crowd: a great credit to them). If they had acted professionally, why confiscate the cameras, and beat up the journalists recording the event?
The 6th question: Why did the authorities jam all the phones within the vicinity knowing that the crowd needed to communicate through this. When Ambiga and Anwar declared the end to the rally at 2.30pm (which I read about the day after the rally), most people did not know about it because the communications were down. Was it a deliberate act to keep the crowd unaware and disorganized? Only at 5.00pm on that day did I see the sms declaring the rally over (but I had decided that it was over by 4.00pm in keeping with the original Bersih plan). So many people were just waiting till the earlier declared time of 4.00pm to disperse since we did not get any other instructions. It was just another 1 hour or less, and the crowd would have happily dispersed at 4.00pm even without instructions.
I will not even talk about Agent Saboteurs that were possibly planted. Look at some of the video clips of the Bersih people being beaten by the police. Amongst those beating the helpless, unarmed, unresisting, non-retaliating arrested Bersih supporters were police in uniform and those in plain clothes (who had earlier mingled with the crowd, probably to instigate them).

The most important thing now is that we should not be distracted by this governments evil intention of using the "small", instigated breach of the cordon as justification for using excessive and disproportionate violence on innocent rakyat who had just come out that day to demand for Free and Fair Elections (and for some, to Stop the Lynas project). And all that finger pointing as to who is at fault for the violence (which by now is obvious to people who still have some objectivity left) is the governments devious plan to distract us from the central issue of a clean and fair elections.
Let us forgive the PDRM rank and file who acted the way they did. They were starved because most of them have not eaten since breakfast (a hungry man is an angry man), tired, and were told that one of their compatriots have been killed by the "rioters" (actually a policeman dies of heart attack away from the scene of the rally, and someone up there used this to create anger amongst the police rank and file), and they were under orders from the upper echelons of power (who were not at the front doing the dirty job of injuring our own people.)
Let us focus on the issue: That over 100,000 people stood up courageously on 428 (indeed something alien to our culture, but the question that begs to be answered is why so many ordinary people are doing something to alien to themselves?) to tell the government that they are tired of the cheating and corruption during elections. They are telling the government clearly and bravely that they DEMAND their right to have a Free and Fair Election. Is this so unreasonable?
If the government is sincere and has nothing to hide about conducting a free and fair election, why did they not even allow a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) for the Sabah renown illegal voters, let alone a RCI on the EC and its process. What is there to hide? And why should we allow ourselves to be cheated of our democratic right for a free and fair election?
I am a member of the FAILED GENERATION: a generation of people who have failed the younger generation of this beloved nation by ALLOWING (by our indifference and apathy) the situation to come to this. This happened over the years, and we were aware of what the government was doing to destroy a system of Free and fair elections. But we chose to be silent (grumbling and complaining amongst ourselves, and nothing beyond that). The young people are standing up to take back their rights that we have allowed ourselves to be forfeited. They are the ones who will inherit this nation from us. What are we leaving them, and for their children, and grand children? Can we continue to stand idly by and allow them to work towards regaining that fundamental right? We have failed them in the past, let us not fail them again now when there is a chance that we can make this right for Malaysia.
Bersih 4.0 will come, even though none of us hope for it, if this government proceed to dissolve Parliament and call for the 13th GE without meaningful electoral reforms, the most important of which is to clean up the electoral rolls. Open the rolls to an independent audit group. Then there are the issues of the postal voters, and the poll booth observers. This can be done before the next GE if this government is sincere about winning fairly. But is it their intention to have a Free and Fair election? I think Bersih 4.0 is inevitable, and nothing can stop it, if this government continues to avoid the issue and continues this blame game. The people are not easily hoodwinked and deceived anymore. They are not afraid anymore to stand up for their rights. This is a new culture pervading the society.
Those who have missed out the earlier Bersih rallies, I want you to think about this: Why are most of the people who have come for the Bersih Rally so keen to come back again if there is need for another? I don't need to explain, because I can't even begin. Its a strange feeling,of patriotism, a sense of unity and national pride, a revelation of what racial and religious harmony is all about and intrinsic sense of purpose that make these people want to come back to stand up for a noble cause.
If this government does not do what it must, Bersih WILL grow from strength to strength. This is not a prophecy, it is an inevitable and irreversible fact. Bersih will simply die a natural death if this government undertake meaningful reforms for a free and fair election. The ball is at the BN government's feet. Take heed my dear government but we are ready to stand up again, but please let Bersih die a natural death.....